Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-07-28

DR.. X. @. kirkpatrick was next
Fcalled: Have been a practitioner
for eighteen years. Know Bod
kin. Have known him fol
twelve years. Examined Bodkin
early in December, 1886. Found
that he was suffering from asthma Sc
verely. At present Bodkin looks bet.
ter, as regards health, than l have
ever seen him. In December he had
chronic asthma and was very weak
physically and quite emaciated. His
chest was ''bulged'' from chronic
asthma. 1t is a deformity. The air
cells were dialated. After an attack
his muscles would relax and he would
not be considered a sound man.
would not pass upon him for life in
surance.
J. j. Bodkin, the defendant, re-
called: The day Elam rode away,
when he got to the bridge, and met
Kent and Jessen, he sung out, 81
came over to settle this thing, but you
won't settle" replied "tell Mr.. Kent
what you said to me and my wife," but
he rode on. The next day was max
ing burrows preparatory to irrigating
when Elam rode up. He commenced
to curse and abuse me and wanted ito
settle that thing" went toward my
house and he rode off. The next day |
went to see about getting water. L
then left the locality for few days to
give Elam chance to cool off. l left
my place in charge of Mr.. Kent. l
took my family to San Juan and vis-
tied Mr.. Matthews. We staid there
week and went home the following
Friday. We got home about sun
down. When we were getting out
of the wagon Mr.. Kent came up
and told me that my dog
had been shot and that my wind gauge
had been stolen. borrowed it from
| the government to measure the veloc-
| ity of the "Santa Ana Winds" The
next day, when was hauling hay, /
saw Elam riding toward me on horse
back. l whipped up my team and
started for the house. He caught up
with me and told me that he was my
superior physically and financially.
He said that he would give me $40 if
| would stand up in front of him for
two minutes. l said nothing and he
rode off. went after another load,
and when | returned l saw Elam
coming with a butcher knife. l went
into my house and stood there with
my gun in my hand expecting Elam
to come in every moment, l then
went after Mr.. Roberts and he came
with me. On the way attended a
meeting of the school trustees. We
then hauled the rest of the hay. After
putting away M team l was afraid to
milk the COW at the barn. I had the
little boy bring the COW up to the
house, where l MIXED it. Elam rode
up and said, Tomorrow will be the
Fourth of July and we will knock =
out of you before night" The next
morning l came to Los Angeles and
got Joseph Ferguson to 60 out with
me to protect me. | went to see the
District Attorney, but he was not in.
l met gentleman and talked to him.
He said that his name was G. w. Knox
and that he was attending to the busi-
ness. l advised with him. l made a
full and fair statement of the case. l
told him that l wanted Elam toput up
bond to keep the peace. | told him
that | was afraid of my life. He ad-
vised me to get pistol and carry it.
He told me in what cases | would be
justified in killing. This did not please
me at all. l felt very nervous, and
told him that was very sorry that
the law would not protect a man in
the enjoyment of his property, and
that l had to protect myself. | saw
Justice Freeman. He told me to de-
fend myself. | also saw City Attorney
DAILY on the same errand. He gave
me the same advice. He said that |
did not have sufficient evidence to
hold Elan. Mr.. Montgomery and Mr..
Melrose, gave me the same ad-
vice. saw them in June, 1886. l
returned home ON July 5th, in COM
pany with Joseph Ferguson. We got
to the house about sun down. After
supper. while we were sitting in the
front room two shots were fired at the
east side of the house. l think a
double-barreled shot gun was used.
1t sounded like two handsfuls of
gravel thrown against the house.
The first thing l did was to Jump.
took my gun and Mr.. Ferguson took
my pistol, and we went
out and staid half a minute. then
got scared and went in. 1t was dark
night and about 10 o'clock. Invent
the next morning to Norwalk and then
to Los Angeles and saw Superintend-
ent Hinton about a school. then
went to San Bernardino and San Diego
endeavoring to get school, but with
out any immediate success. | then
returned home but did not see Elam.
| was afraid of him and staid in the
house. | got letter from Dr. Reed,
giving me a school. One day while l
was out cultivating, l saw Elan COM
ing on horse back. He came to the
edge of the ditch and began abusing
and cursing me. He said my COW was
in his vineyard eating his vines. He
continued cursing and finally shook
his fist at me. He said, &C. d
you, will meet you in h in less
than week and settle this thing"
left to teaeh school in September.
/ remained there four weeks and then
returned home on a Saturday night.
The next morning l found our fence
down. 1t looked exactly as if it had
been pulled up. l repaired it. My
wife also told me how she had been
abused and annoyed by Elan during
my absence. | offered a reward of
$25 for the conviction of the party who
tore the fence down. Ihave seen sew
eral exhibitions of Elam's strength.
On one occasion went to the mount
aims for load of wood and he put
some very large sticks ON the wagon.
On another occasion | killed a hog,
which was hanging in the barn. The
door was locked and l ran around to
open it, and when | got there Elam
was at the back of my heels carrying
the hog. bit weighed 800 sounds and it
did not appear to be featherweight
to him. | have seen him on more
than one occasion play with
a rattlesnake. He would tease